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Bancroft  Library  SLAVERY 

IX  CALIFORNIA  AND  NEW  MEXICO. 



SPEECH  OF  MR.  OEIN  FOWLER, 

OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 
MARCH  11,  1850, 

IN  COMITTEE  OF  THE  WHOLE  ON  THE  STATE  OF  THE  UNION,  ON  THE  PRESENT'S 
MESSAGE  COMMUNICATING  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  CALIFORNIA, 


Mr.  FOWLER  said: 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN  :  I  rise  with  unfeigned  diffidence,  to  express  a  few  thoughts 
upon  the  subject  now  before  this  House.  This  diffidence  springs,  not  from  a 
want  of  confidence  in  the  views  I  entertain,  but  from  the  consciousness  of  my 
inability  to  do  justice  to  the  subject  on  which  I  propose  to  speak,  and  of  the 
superior  qualifications  of  more  experienced  and  more  talented  men.  But  as  I 
must  share  with  every  member  the  responsibilities  of  the  present  crisis,  I  ven- 
ture to  give  utterance  to  sentiments,  bearing  directly  and  deeply  upon  the 
deliberations  in  which  we  are  engaged.  The  questions  that  have  arisen  in 
connection  with  California  and  the  other  Territories,  recently  acquired  by  the 
United  States,  involve  the  institutions  and  the  destinies  of  large  districts  of 
country,  ere  long  to  become  populous  and  powerful  States  of  this  Confederacy. 
To  our  hands,  under  Providence,  is  committed  the  responsible  work  of  mould- 
ing these  institutions  and  shaping  these  destinies  ;  a.nd  hence,  it  seems  to  me, 
there  never  has  been  a  question  pending  before  this  House  and  this  country, 
embracing  more  important  or  more  enduring  interests,  than  that  upon  which 
we  are  about  to  act.  Legislation  that  relates  to  the  concerns  of  an  existing 
and  organized  State,  may  have  limits  to  its  influence.  Not  so  that  legislation 
which  embodies  the  fundamental  principles,  incorporated  into  the  very  frame- 
work, on  which  rest  the  institutions  of  communities,  destined  to  exist,  and  to 
exert  influences  for  good  or  for  evil,  on  generations  yet  unborn.  In  the  former 
case,  if  legislation  be  weak,  or  wicked,  subsequent  acts  may  modify,  or  check, 
or  remove  the  evil.  In  the  latter  case,  no  constitutional  legislation  can  erad- 
icate the  mischief.  To  us  is  allotted  the  work  of  adopting  the  organic  princi- 
ples, and  framing  the  fundamental  laws,  of  free  and  independent  States.  On 
no  legislative  body  were  ever  devolved  duties  more  important  —  responsibilities 
more  solemn.  In  the  present  posture  of  our  public  affairs,  it  becomes  us  with 
firmness  and  discretion  to  consult,  not  our  passions,  but  our  judgment.  No 
good  ever  conies,  either  in  private  or  public  affairs,  by  rousing  the  passions. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  no  sympathy  with  any  man  who  repudiates  the  Con- 
stitution of  our  common  country.  By  that  Constitution—  much  as  I  could 
desire  that,  in  a  few  particulars,  it  were  otherwise—  I  abide,  both  in  its  letter 
and  in  its  spirit.  As  the  letter  of  it  forbids  us  from  interfering  directly  with 


F-1 

•  r  f 


slavery  in  the  States,  under -whose  exclusive  jurisdiction  it  is  sanctioned,  so 
the  spirit  of  it  forbids  us  from  extending  slavery  over  one  rod  of  territory 
where  freedom  is  enjoyed. 

The  plea  of  the  slaveholder,  that  it  is  unjust  and  unequal  to  shut  him  and 
his  slave  property  out  of  territory  acquired  by  the  blood  and  treasure  of  the 
whole  country,  is  unfounded.  It  overlooks  that  great  fact,  that  human 
slavery  is  in  opposition*  to  natural  right  and  common  law,  and  that,  existing 
only  by  municipal  regulations,  it  entitles  to  no  privileges  beyond  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  those  regulations.  But,  you  say,  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the 
new  territories  will  be  followed  by  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  I  say,  I  do 
not  believe  it — I  do  not  believe  it,  because  I  do  not  believe  there  would,  in 
that  event,  be  any  just  cause  for  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  ;  and  I  do  not 
believe  the  people  will  take  that  terrible  step  without  just  cause.  As  for 
the  rulers — especially  the  present  incumbents,  including  our  honorable 
selves — we  have  no  power,  and  no  authority  whatever,  to  do  that  abomina- 
ble deed.  Should  any  be  so  insane  and  so  reckless  as  to  attempt  it,  they 
will  soon  discover  their  folly  and  their  impotency,  and  have  liberty  to  retire 
into  the  shades  of  obscurity.  The  people  love  the  Union,  and  will  adhere 
to  it.  The  Union  has  made  them  a  prosperous  and  powerful  nation.  They 
look  back  with  joy  upon  the  glorious  past,  and  forward  with  hope  to  the 
yet  more  glorious  future.  The  political,  slaveholding  cry  of  disunion,  is  an 
old  argument  for  extending  slavery,  by  exciting  the  fears  of  cowing  doughfa- 
ces. It  should  be  treated  as  a  threadbare  humbug.  This  Union  cannot  be 
dissolved  by  three  hundred  thousand  slaveholders,  (about  the  present  number 
now  in  the  Southern  States,)  provided  its  true  friends  are  true  to  themselves 
and  to  the  country.  The  Union  is  cemented  and  fortified,  not  only  by  its 
Constitution,  and  by  its  institutions  of  agriculture,  and  art,  and  commerce, 
and  education,  and  religion,  but  by  the  clear-headed,  strong-handed,  lion- 
hearted  power  of  the  Americo- Anglo-Saxon  people.  Standing  firm  upon  the 
principles  of  freedom  and  of  the  Constitution,  if  perchance  the  disruption  of 
the  Union  should  follow,  we  shall  enjoy  the  unspeakable  solace  of  an  appro- 
ving conscience  ;  whereas,  if  by  our  consent  the  woes  and  wrongs  of  slavery 
shall  be  extended  into  territory  now  free,  the  sting  of  self-reproach,  and  the 
consciousness  of  wrong-doing,  would  embitter  what  remains  of  mortal  life — 
and  between  doing  wrong  arid  suffering  wrong,  true  patriots  will  not  hesitate 
to  choose  the  latter.  To  extend  slavery — American  slavery — (the  worst  kind 
of  slavery  that  ever  existed  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  since  Adam  fell) — into 
territory  now  free,  is  a  wrong  done  to  humanity — to  the  rights  of  human- 
ity, to  the  friends  of  humanity.  We  cannot,  we  will  not,  do  it,  come  what 
may. 

On  the  subject  now  before  us,  I  will  confine  my  remarks  to  the  considera- 
tion of  a  few  practical  topics. 

THE  GREAT  PRINCIPLE  ON  WHICH  THE  FRAMER3  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION, 
BOTH  NORTH  AND  SOUTH,  ACTED,  WAS,  THAT  SLAVERY  SHOULD  NOT  BE  EX- 
TENDED BEYOND  THE  STATES  IN  WHICH  IT  THEN  EXISTED,  and  that  itS  FINAL 
REMOVAL  FROM  THE  NATION  WOULD  NOT  BE  LONG  DELAYED. 

The  compromises  of  the  Constitution,  whatever  they  were,  embraced  an 
interchange  of  obligations.  The  North  said  to  the  South,  we  will  allow  you 
to  pursue,  recover,  and  convey  back,  your  slaves,  if,  being  fugitives,  they 
are  found  on  our  soil.  The  South  said  to  the  North,  as  an  offset,  we  will 
not  ask  to  extend  slavery  into  the  common  territorial  possessions  of  th< 
Union,  and  we  will  agree  to  terminate  the  slave  trade  in  1808.  This  W 
the  chief  compromise  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  great  principle  on  wMch 


its  framers  and  the  people  at  large  acted.  If  I  shall  succeed  in  establishing 
the  position  I  have  taken,  it  will  follow  that  the  violations  of  constitutional 
compromises  are  all  chargeable  to  slaveholders,  and  that  the  people  of  the 
free  States,  in  opposing  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  insisting  that  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  (commonly  called  the  Wilmot  Proviso)  shall 
be  applied  to  all  territory  now  free,  are  standing  upon  high  ground — ground 
occupied  by  all  parties  to  our  national  compact,  when  that  compact  was 
formed.  To  the  proof  of  this  position,  I  now  proceed. 

I  take  my  first  proof  from  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  July  4, 
1776: 

"  We  hold  (say  the  fathers  of  the  Republic)  these  truths  to  be  self-evident :  that  all  men 
(blacks  as  well  as  whites)  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  inalienable  rights ;  that  among  them  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ; 
andtthat  to  secure  these  rights,  Governments  are  instituted  among  men." 

To  the  support  of  these  great  principles  of  liberty  and  equality  for  all  men, 
the  signers  of  that  declaration,  representing  the  thirteen  United  States,  with 
a  firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,  mutually  pledged 
to  each  other  "their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor."  This 
pledge  was  made  by  the  Representatives  of  all  the  States.  To  maintain  and 
establish  these  principles  of  liberty  and  equality  for  all  men  in  this  nation, 
the  war  of  the  Revolution  was  waged,  and  its  blood  and  treasure  expended. 

To  show  that  this  declaration  of  liberty  and  equality  for  all,  was  intended 
to  apply  to  the  colored  people,  as  well  as  the  white  people,  and  that  it  looked 
to  the  earty  termination  of  slavery,  I  refer  to  a  few,  of  many  testimonials,  of 
the  sentiments  of  the  prominent  men  who  were  first  and  foremost  in  making 
and  supporting  it.  In  the  Federal  Convention  that  formed  the  Constitution, 
Gouverneur  Morris  said  : 

"  He  never  would  concur  in  upholding  domestic  slavery.  It  was  a  nefarious  institution. 
It  was  the  curse  of  Heaven  on  the  States  where  it  prevailed.  *  *  *  *  Upon  what 
principle  is  it,  that  the  slaves  shall  be  computed  in  the  representation  ?  Are  they  men  ? 
Then  make  them  citizens,  and  let  them  vote.  Are  they  property?  Why,  then,  is  no  other 
property  included  ?  *  *  *  The  admission  of  slaves  into  representation,  when  fairly 
explained,  comes  to  this  :  that  the  inhabitant  of  Georgia  and  South'  Carolina,  who  goes  to 
the  coast  of  Africa,  and,  in  defiance  of  the  most  sacred  laws  of  humanity,  tears  away  his 
fellow-creatures  from  their  dearest  connections,  and  damns  them  to  the  most  cruel  bondage, 
shall  have  more  votes  in  a  Government,  instituted  for  the  protection  of  the  rights  of  man- 
kind, than  the  citizen  of  Pennsylvania,  or  New  Jersey,  who  viewrs  with  a  laudable  horror 
so  nefarious  a  practice.  *  *  *  *  And  what  is  the  proposed  compensation  to  the 
Northern  States,  for  a  sacrifice  of  every  principle  of  right,  of  every  impulse  of  humanity  ?  " — 
J^ide  Madison  Papers,  Vol.  HI,  pp.  1263-'4. 

Colonel  George  Mason,  of  Virginia,  said : 

f-  Slavery  discourages  arts  and  manufactures.  The  slaves  produce  the  most  pernicious 
effects  on  manners.  Every  master  of  slaves  is  born  a  petty  tyrant.  TfTey  bring  the  judg- 
ment of  Heaven  on  a  country.  As  nations  cannot  be  rewarded  or  punished  in  the  next 
world,  they  must  be  in  this.  By  an  inevitable  chain  of  causes  and  effects,  Providence 
punishes  nStroriEd  sins ix^r  national  calamities.  I  hold  it  essential,  in  every  point  of  view, 
that  the  General  Government  should  have  power  to  prevent  the  increase  of  slavery  " — 
ride  Madison  Papers,  Vol.  HI,  p.  1391. 

Said  Mr.  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut : 

"  Slavery,  in  time,  will  not  be  a  speck  in  our  country." — Same  Volume,  p.  1392. 

Mr.  Sherman,  of  Connecticut,  said : 

"  He  was  opposed  to  a  tax  on  slaves,  because  it  implied  they  were  property." — Ditto, 
p  1396. 

This  is  a  specimen  of  the  noble  sentiments  that  were  entertained  and  ex- 
pressed by  the  patriotic  men  who  formed  the  Constitution. 


I  take  my  second  proof  from  the  Ordinance  of  1*787. 

The  war  of  independence  being  closed,  Virginia  and  other  States  conveyed 
to  the  United  States,  as  their  joint  and  common  property,  the  territory  north- 
west of  the  Ohio.  By  the  Ordinance1  of  July  13,  1787,  slavery  was  forever 
excluded  from  that  territory.  The  Ordinance  was  passed  unanimously,  as  to 
States ;  and,  with  a  single  exception,  unanimously  as  to  individual  members ; 
and  that  exception  was  Mr.  Yates,  of  New  York.  It  was  a  unanimous  decis- 
ion of  the  whole  country  against  the  extension  of  slavery.  The  sixth  article 
of  the  Ordinance  reads  thus  : 

"  There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the  said  Territory,  other- 
wise than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted  : 
Provided,  always,  That  any  person  escaping  into  the  same.,  from  whom  labor  or  service  is 
lawfully  claimed,  in  any  one  of  the  original  States,  such  fugitive  may  be  lawfully  reclaim- 
ed, and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his  or  her  labor  or  service,  as  aforesaid. " 

This  sixth  article  stipulates  two  things — first,  that  slavery  shall  never  be 
extended  into  the  Northwest  Territory ;  and  secondly,  that  fugitives  may  be 
lawfully  reclaimed.  This  was  the  great  compromise  upon  which  was  based 
the  formation  of  our  existing  Constitution.  By  the  Ordinance  it  was  settled 
that  slavery  should  be  forever  excluded  from  the  Northwest  Territory. 
By  the  Ordinance  it  was  settled  that  fugitives  in  that  territory  might  be 
reclaimed.  And  freedom  being  thus  secured  by  the  Ordinance,  it  was  pro- 
vided by  the  Constitution,  that  the  guaranties  for  the  recovery  of  fugitives, 
made  by  the  Ordinance,  should  extend  to  all  the  States — as  well  to  the  old 
States,  as  to  those  to  be  formed  out  of  new  territory.  The  non-extension  of 
slavery  was  secured  by  the  Ordinance  passed  the  same  year — perhaps  the 
same  month — the  Constitution  was  formed ;  and  the  compromise  settled  by 
those  simultaneous  decrees  was,  non-extension  of  slavery  on  the  one  side — 
reclamation  of  fugitives  on  the  other.  The  recovery  of  fugitives  only  binds 
the  free  States  to  suifer  it  to  be  done — so  the  Supreme  Court  has  decided. 
That  tribunal  held,  that  the  power  to  secure  fugitives  from  service  to  be 
delivered  up,  is  a  power  to  be  exercised  only  under  the  authority  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States.  This  provision  for  the  recovery  of  fugitives, 
thus  understood,  is  sufficiently  humiliating  to  republicans.  It  should  be  here, 
as  in  our  father-land,  that  whoever  treads  our  soil,  wears  no  chains ;  whoever 
breathes  our  air  is  a  freeman. 

My  third  proof  is  found  in  the  main  DESIGN  of  the  Constitution.  That 
design  is  thus  stated  in  the  preamble :  "  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
ordain  this  Constitution,  in  order  to  establish  justice,  and  secure  the  blessings 
of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity." 

By  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  it  was  affirmed  that  all  men  "were 
created  equal,"  and  "  were  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  the  inalienable 
rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. ' '  That  declaration  had  been 
maintained  by  the  blood  and  treasure  of  patriotic  men;  and  now,  "to  estab- 
lish the  principles  of  justice,"  and  secure  "the  blessings  of  liberty"  to  all 
the  people  of  this  nation,  the  Constitution  was  ordained  and  adopted.  To 
secure  justice,"  and  " the  blessings  of  liberty"  to  all — this  was  the  noble 
design  of  organizing  this  Government  upon  its  republican  basis.  Slavery 
in  principle  and  in  practice  conflicts  with  this  design.  It  neither  secures 
justice  nor  the  blessings  of  liberty.  It  subverts  and  destroys  them.  It  make? 
a  rational  and  immortal  man,  property.  It  crushes  whatever  is  noble/fn 
humanity  beneath  its  leaden  chains.  It  binds  in  fetters  of  iron,  the  min/  as 
well  as  the  body.  It  silences  the  first  waking  of  intellect  in  its  bapless 
victim,  as  though  it  were  the  signal  of  insurrection.  You  speak  of  the  pro- 

. 
• 


vision  which  slavery  makes  for  the  physical  necessities  of  its  victim,  as  a  real 
mitigation  of  his  burning  wrongs.  This  is  cruel.  You  plead  his  apparent  hap- 
piness as  an  alleviation  of  his  degraded  condition,  when  it  is  conceded  he  must 
first  be  stripped  of  liberty  before  he  can  rejoice  in  bondage.  This  is  worse 
than  cruelty.  The  extension  of  slavery  into  new  territory,  indeed  its  con- 
tinuance anywhere,  is  in  direct  and  open  conflict  with  the  paramount  design 
of  the  Constitution,  and  cannot  be  countenanced  by  the  consistent  friends  and 
supporters  of  that  charter  of  our  rights. 

My  fourth  proof  is  found  in  the  constitutional  provision  against  the  impor*- 
tation  of  slaves  after  the  year  1808.  At  the  time  the  Constitution  was  form- 
ed and  adopted,  the  slave  power  was  a  hesitating  petitioner  for  license  to  exist 
only  for  a  season.  It  was  the  common  sentiment  of  the  country,  and  of  the 
world,  that  if  the  slave-trade  were  abolished,  slavery  would  languish,  and  soon 
die  out.  Clarkson,  Wilberforce,  and  others,  in  England — Franklin,  Rush, 
Rittenhouse,  Jay,  Sherman,  and  others,  in  this  country — were  full  and  firm  in 
this  opinion.  They,  and  the  fathers  generally,  believed,  that  by  cutting  off" 
the  foreign  supply,  and  thus  drying  up  the  fountain,  the  effect  would  be,  the 
speedy  termination  of  slavery.  Hence  it  was  deemed,  that  a  great  point  for 
freedom  was  gained  by  clothing  Congress  with  constitutional  power  to  prohibit 
the  foreign  slave  trade.  It  was  regarded,  both  North  and  South,  as  clothing 
the  Government  with  authority  to  secure  the  entire  removal  of  slavery  from  the 
nation.  Hence  the  word  slave,  was  designedly  kept  out  of  the  Constitution, 
ihat  in  after  ages,  when  slavery  should  be  done  away,  no  trace  of  its  existence 
should  leave  its  foul  stain  upon  that  noble  instrument. 

Mr.  Madison  said  in  the  Convention  : 

"  I  think  it  wrong  to  admit  the  idea,  in  the  Constitution,  that  there  can  be  property  in 
man." 

In  so  saying,  he  only  echoed  the  sentiments  of  other  members. 

Said  Mr.  Iredell,  of  North  Carolina,  in  the  Convention  of  that  State,  when 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  w"as  opposed,  on  the  ground  of  this  clause  re- 
lating to  the  slave-trade : 

"  When  the  entire  abolition  of  slavery  takes  place,  it  will  be  an  event  which  must  be 
pleasing  to  every  generous  mind  and  every  friend  of  human  nature." — Elliott's  Debates. 

Mr.  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania,  speaking  of  this  clause,  said : 
"  I  consider  it  as  laying  the  foundation  for  banishing  slavery  out  of  the  land.     The  new 
States,  that  are  to  be  formed,  will  be  under  the  control  of  Congress  in  this  particular,  arfd 
slaves  will  never  be  introduced  among  them." — Vide,  ElliotVs  Debates. 

In  1789,  Hon.  Josiah  Parker,  a  member  of  the  first  Congress  under  the 
Constitution,  from  Virginia,  speaking  with  reference  to  this  article  of  the  Con- 
stitution, said: 

"  He  hoped  Congress  would  do  all  in  their  power  to  restore  to  human  nature  its  inhe- 
rent privileges,  and,  if  possible,  wipe  off  the  stigma  which  America  labored  under.  The 
inconsistency  of  our  principles,  with  which  we  are  justly  charged,  should  be  done  away, 
that  we  may  show  by  our  actions,  the  pure  beneficence  of  the  doctrine  we  held  out  to  the 
world  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence." 

Such  were  the  publicly  avowed  sentiments  of  a  man  whom  Virginia  five 
times  re-elected  to  Congress. 

Colonel  Bland,  of  the  same  State,  said  : 

"  He  wished  slaves  had  never  been  introduced  into  America  ;  but  as  it  was  impossible, 
at  this  time,  to  cure  the  evil,  he  was  very  willing  to  join  in  any  measures  that  would  pre- 
vent its  extending  further!  " 

This  is  only  a  specimen  of  the  avowed  opinions  of  the  leading  men  of  that 
period.  It  was  under  the  influence  of  such  opinions  that  the  Constitution 


was  formed.  All  parties  believed  and  agreed,  that,  after  1808,  slavery  was 
soon  to  retire  from  the  land.  They  all  intended  to  carry  out  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  cause  this  to  be  a  land  of  freedom  for  all  people.  They 
were  willing  slavery  should  exist  for  a  period,  that  it  might  prepare  itself  to- 
die  ;  but  they  no  more  intended  the  perpetuity  of  human  slavery  in  this  free 
Republic,  than  they  intended  to  put  again  upon  their  necks  the  yoke  of  des- 
potism which  they  had  broken.  I  need  not  stop  here  to  show  that  the  inter- 
diction of  the  African  slave-trade  has  secured  the  entire  home-market  to  the 
domestic  slave  breeder,  and  thus  operated,  unexpectedly,  to  keep  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  alive — for  this  does  not  affect  the  argument. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  submit  that  it  is  thus  proved — from  the  Declaration  of 
Independence — from  the  Ordinance  of  1787 — from  the  design  of  the  Consti- 
tution— and  from  the  clause  interdicting  the  slave-trade  after  1808,  that  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution,  both  North  and  South,  and  the  people  who; 
adopted  it,  acted  upon  the  principle  that  slavery  was  not  to  be  extended  be- 
yond the  States  in  which  it  then  existed,  and  that  its  final  removal  would  not 
be  long  delayed. 

This  great  principle,  I  proceed  to  show,  has  been  faithfully  observed  and 
carried  out  at  the  North,  and  entirely  violated  at  the  South.  How  was  it  at 
the  North?  Let  history  answer.  She  had  slaves,  but  she  treated  them  as 
men,  physically,  intellectually,  morally.  She  believed  that  man  is  not  a  ma- 
chine to  be  driven  by  wind  or  steam ;  nor  a  beast  to  be  urged  to  his  task,  by 
the  goad  or  the  spear ;  nor  a  slave  to  crouch  like  Issachar,  between  two  bur- 
dens, and  come  and  go  at  the  bidding  of  another  ;  but  that  every  man  is  a 
many  and  has  the  rights  of  a  man ;  and  accordingly,  the  work  of  emancipa- 
tion at  the  North  was  commenced  and  nearly  finished,  before  the  year  1808 
arrived.  Massachusetts  abolished  slavery  within  her  limits  in  1780  ;  and  when 
she  formed  her  Constitution,  she  embodied  the  act  of  abolition  in  her  bill  of 
rights.  New  Hampshire  followed  her  example  in  1792,  and  Vermont  in  1793. 
Pennsylvania  passed  laws  for  the  gradual  extinction  of  slavery  in  1780,  Con- 
necticut and  Rhode  Island  in  1784,  New  York  in  1799  and  1817,  and  New 
Jersey  in  1804.  Maine,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
Iowa,  never  recognised  the  existence  of  slavery  within  their  borders,  as  inde- 
pendent States.  The  principles  of  the  Constitution  were  thus  carried  out,  in. 
good  faith,  by  the  North,  and  the  final  removal  of  slavery  from  her  borders 
was.  completed  more  than  thirty  years  ago. 

How  was  it  with  the  South  1  Sixty  years  have  rolled  away  since  the  Con- 
stitution was  adopted ;  and  what  has  the  South  done  to  carry  out  the  princi- 
ples of  human  liberty  and  equal  justice,  embodied  in  the  Declaration  and  in 
the  Constitution  ?  What  has  she  done  to  secure  justice  and  the  blessings  of 
liberty  to  all  who  are  surrounded  by  the  ensigns  of  a  people  that  never  cease 
their  boast  of  freedom.  Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,, 
societies  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  were  organized  in  Virginia,  Maryland, 
North  Carolina,  perhaps  other  Southern  States — in  which  societies,  some  of 
the  very  men  who  formed  the  Constitution,  including,  it  is  believed,  Wash- 
ington and  Jefferson,  were  actually  engaged  ;  and  for  a  course  of  years, 
there  seemed  ground  of  hope  that,  in  no  long  time,  all  the  States  would  be 
free,  and  the  banner  of  liberty  would  wave  over  every  section  of  the  Repub- 
lic. The  year  1808  arrived :  the  slave-trade  was  abolished  by  the  act  of 
Congress.  '-That  done,  twelve  years  passed:  they  were  years  of  progress  in 
agriculture,  in  the  arts,  in  knowledge,  in  education,  in  everything  that  gives 
strength  and  wealth  and  hope  to  a  people,  anxious  to  plant  the  seeds  of  lib- 
erty and  justice,  with  the  corner-stones  of  all  their  institutions. 


A  new  crisis  came:  Missouri  applied  for  admission  into  the  Union  as  a 
State.  The  application,  after  a  long  and  anxious  struggle,  was  successful. 
Missouri  was  admitted  as  a  slave  State  in  1820,  and  in  the  act  providing  for 
the  admission,  there  was  a  clause  inserted,  usually,  but  falsely,  termed  a  com- 
promise. This  clause  provided,  that  in  all  that  territory  ceded  by  France  to 
the  United  States,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  which  lies  north  of  36  degrees 
30  minutes  north  latitude,  not  included  within  the  limits  of  the  State  contem- 
plated by  this  act,  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude  "  should  be  forever  prohib- 
ited." The  designs  of  the  pro-slavery  members  were  developed  in  the  act  ad- 
mitting Missouri,  to  the  astonishment  not  only  of  the  North,  but  of  the  Nations. 
The  act  provided  for  organizing  a  slave  State,  out  of  territory  lying  north  of 
36  degrees  30  minuted  north  latitude;  and  then,  having  secured  this  State 
to  slavery,  it  promises  not  to  do  so  again.  The  act  is  silent  about  territory 
south  of  that  parallel.  The  implication  is,  that  there  slavery  may  go.  This 
act  was  resisted  by  the  free  North,  as  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  of  the  Constitution,  and  of  the 
fair  understanding  of  all  parties  in  the  beginning.  It  was  finally  carried  by  a 
few  votes  from  the  free  States.  The  men  who  gave  these  votes  were  justly 
branded  by  the  member  from  Roanoke,  DOUGHFACES — and  they  received  their 
reward.  They  lost  caste  with  all  consistent  friends  of  constitutional  liberty, 
and  soon  sunk  away  into  contemptuous  obscurity.  Their  deserved  doom  may 
well  be  regarded  as  a  warning  to  all  Doughfaces  who  desert  their  constituency, 
and  disregard  the  principles  of  the  DECLARATION  and  the  CONSTITUTION. 
The  friends  of  liberty  and  right,  everywhere  in  the  free  States,  were  alarmed 
and  aroused.  They  repudiated  the  act,  as  a  compromise,  and  have  continued 
to  repudiate  it  to  this  day.  Here  was  the  beginning  of  our  present  perplex- 
ities. 

Again  :  about  that  time,  a  course  of  oppressive  and  unconstitutional  legis- 
lation was  commenced  in  South  Carolina,  and  soon  imitated  by  several  other 
slave  States,  which  has  thus  far  been  persisted  in.  That  system  of  legislation 
assumes  the  right  of  a  State  to  seize,  at  her  sole  discretion,  a  citizen  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, or  of  the  other  free  States,  and  cast  him  into  prison,  without 
alleging  against  him  the  commission  of  any  crime,  and  solely  because  he  is 
found  engaged  in  his  lawful  business,  on  board  of  a  ship  touching  at  her  port. 
It  assumes  the  right  not  only  to  imprison,  but  to  sell  into  returnless  bondage, 
human  beings,  born  in  freedom — unoffending — entitled,  by  the  Constitution 
not  only  of  Massachusetts,  but  of  the  United  States,  to  the  fullest  security  of 
life,  liberty,  and  property,  as  well  when  following  a  lawful  business  on  ship- 
board, as  when  at  home.  It  assumes  the  right  of  a  State  to  refuse  to  submit 
her  legislative  acts  to  be  judged  by  the  Supreme  Court — the  tribunal  desig- 
nated by  the  Constitution  as  the  final  arbiter  of  the  constitutionality  of  such 
acts.  And  it  goes  yet  further,  and  claims  the  prerogative  of  punishing  by 
fine  and  imprisonment,  a  citizen  from  another  State,  who  questions  the  validity 
of  such  legislation,  and  seeks,  in  a  lawful  manner,  to  test  it  before  the  consti- 
tuted tribunals.  All  this  is  in  defiance  of  the  plain  and  express  stipulations 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  When  our  fathers  remonstrated 
against  the  oppressions  of  the  mother  country,  in  1774,  "they held  it  essential 
to  English  liberty,  that  no  man  be  condemned  unheard,  or  punished  for  sup- 
posed offences,  without  having  an  opportunity  of  making  his  defence."  In  the 
list  of  offences  charged  upon  George  and  his  ministers,  there  is  not  one  so 
arbitrary  and  oppressive  as  these  acts  committed  upon  some  of  my  constituents, 
in  consequence  of  this  Southern  legislation.  And  now,  the  only  answer  we 
receive  to  our  protests  against  these  oppressions  is,  that  the  North  is  aggres- 


sive,  and  the  Union  is  in  danger.  Let  me  tell  gentlemen,  that  these  uncon- 
stitutional and  cruel  acts  have  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  people  of  every 
free  State  in  this  Union.  This  it  is  that  has  kindled  a  flame  that  many  waters 
cannot  quench. 

Again :  if  the  historians  who  have  recorded  the  facts  are  reliable — and  I 
know  of  no  reason  for  doubting — the  war  with  some  five  thousand  Indians  in 
Florida — a  war  which  lasted  seven  years,  and  cost  the  nation  thirty  millions 
of  dollars,  and  many  thousand  livies — was  engendered  by  the  aggressive  de- 
mands of  slavery. 

Again  :  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  Mexican  war,  and  the  acquisition  of 
California  and  New  Mexico,  and  all  our  present  agitations  and  alienations, 
and  gloomy  and  perilous  anticipations,  are  the  fruits  of  the  slavery-extension 
spirit  and  policy.  The  acquisition  of  these  countries,  and  the  whole  expen- 
diture of  treasure-,  and  life,  and  principle,  which  they  have  cost,  as  well  as 
all  the  evils  that  threaten  us,  or  are  upon  us,  or  are  yet  to  come,  be  they  as 
they  may,  and  what  they  may,  even  though  they  continue  a  hundred  or  a 
thousand  years,  and  though  they  should  involve  the  total  subversion  and  final 
overthrow  of  the  Republic,  and  bring  upon  this  beauteous  and  blessed  land 
a  despotism  more  cruel  and  more  relentless  than  any  that  has  yet  cursed  the 
earth — and  though  in  the  progress  of  scenes  thus  developed,  our  valleys,  now 
covered  writh  corn,  should  be  wet  with  the  blood  of  our  children,  and  wailing 
and  woe  should  everywhere  resume  the  places  of  mirth  and  bliss — all,  a//,  ALL, 
will  be  chargeable  to  the,  spirit  and  the  policy,  that  for  a  quarter  of  a  centu- 
ry have  been  seeking  and  working  the  extension  of  the  area  of  slavery.  The 
acquisition  of  Texas  and  the  Mexican  provinces  should  always  be  united  to- 
gether as  one  affair.  The  annexation  was  the  cause  of  the  war ;  and  the  re- 
sult of  the  war  is,  we  have  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California.  These  ac- 
quisitions have  not  been  the  work  of  a  day — twenty-five  years  have  been  occu- 
pied upon  it.  And  it  is  this  work  that  has  aroused  the  free  people  of  the  free 
States,  so  that  one  pulse  beats  from  Maine  to  Oregon :  it  is  the  pulse  of  lib- 
erty— liberty  for  man — liberty  for  every  man,  whose  domicil  is  on  soil  now 
free.  The  sole,  the  acknowledged,  the  avowed  purpose  of  acquiring  Texas, 
California,  and  New  Mexico,  was  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  slavery  and  the 
power  of  slaveholders.  Among  other  avowals  of  the  Southern  press,  I  will 
quote  two  or  three.  Said  the  Charleston  Patriot  : 

"  We  trust  that  our  Southern  Representatives  will  remember  that  this  is*  a  Southern 
war." 

Said  the  Charleston  Courier  : 

"  Every  battle  fought  in  Mexico,  and  every  dollar  spent  there,  but  insutes  the  acquisi-^ 
tion  of  territory,,  which  must  widen  the  field  of  Southern  enterprise  and  power  for  the  fu- 
ture, and  the  final  result  will  be,  to  adjust  the  whole  balance  of  power  in  the  Confederacy, 
so  as  to  give  us  the  control  over  the  operations  of  the  Government  in  all  time  to  come." 

Here  we  have  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth. 

That  war,  to  secure  the  acquisition  of  Texas  and  the  Mexican  provinces, 
made  and  sustained  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  area  and  the  influence  of 
slavery,  was  most  destructive  of  human  life,  and  most  expensive  of  national 
treasure.  No  estimate  that  I  have  seen  puts  the  number  of  lives  at  less  than 
twenty  thousand.  The  direct  pecuniary  expenditures  were  not  less  than  one 
hundred  millions  of  dollars.  The  indirect  expenditures,  including  the  money 
to  be  paid  Mexico  for  the  ceded  territory,  the  claims  for  bounty  land,  the  in- 
terest to  be  paid,  for  many  years,  on  borrowed  money,  and  the  drafts  for 
pensions,  and  various  indemnities  for  losses  and  injuries,  all  of  which  will  not 
be  paid  in  fifty  years — these  will  equal  another  hundred  millions.  Two  hun- 


dred  millions  of  dollars,  and  twenty  thousand  lives — to  say  nothing  of  a  great 
multitude  of  other  evils — all  expended  for  the  extension  of  slave  territory, 
and  thp  perpetuity  of  slave  power !  This — this  it  is,  that  has  aroused  the 
North,  and  nerved  them  anew  for  liberty  and  right.  Should  California  and 
New  Mexico  be  surrendered  to  the  demands  of  slavery,  their  acquisition  must 
be  regarded  as  a  direful  calamity  by  all  who  hold  slavery  to  be  alike  hostile 
to  the  benevolence  of  God,  and  the  happiness  of  man. 

The  idea  recently  promulged,  that  Massachusetts  was  indifferent  about  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  with  slave  territory,  to  this  Union,  is  a  great  mistake. 
The  people  of  that  State  were  aroused  to  a  very  high  degree,  in  opposition  to 
the  measure.  Delegates  from  all  parties  and  all  parts  of  the  State,  met  in 
Convention,  in  Faneuil  Hall,  to  protest  solemnly  against  it ;  a  distinguished 
jurist — Hon.  Judge  Williams — was  its  President.  I  was  a  member  of  that 
Convention.  Among  other  resolutions  passed,  was  this  : 

' '  Resolved,  That  there  is  no  constitutional  power  in  any  branch  of  the  Government,  or 
all  the  branches  of  the  Government,  to  annex  a  foreign  State  to  this  Union." 

The  Legislature  of  that  State  passed  resolutions,  of  which  this  is  one  : 
fi  Resolved,  That  the  people  of  Massachusetts  will  never  consent  to  use  the  powers  re- 
served to  themselves,  to  admit  Texas,  or  any  other  State  or  Territory  now  without  the 
Union,  on  any  other  basis  than  the  perfect  equality  of  freemen  ;  and  that  while  slavery  or 
slave  representation  forms  any  part  of  the  claim  or  condition  of  admission,  Texas,  with  her 
consent,  can  never  be  admitted." 

And  what  possible  claim  have  slaveholders  to  California  and  New  Mexico? 
They  have  possession  of  Texas,  and  this  is  double  their  share  of  the  plunder. 
In  justice  to  the  free  people  of  the  country,  they  ought,  in  all  fairness,  to  re- 
linquish to  freedom  a  part  of  that  State. 

The  free  States  have  a  territory  of  454,340  square  miles.  .The  slave 
States,  including  Texas,  have  a  territory  of  936,318  square  miles.  If  Cali- 
fornia and  New  Mexico,  comprising  526,078  square  miles,  are  admitted  as 
free  States,  the  slaveholders  will  still  have  more  than  their  fair  and  just  pro- 
portion of  the  country. 

Again,  sir :  The  honorable  member  from  Florida,  [Mr.  CABELL,]  in  his 
recent  speech,  inquires,  "  What  possible  evil  can  be  done  by  extending  sla- 
very ?"  Let  us  see  :  The  free  States  have  double  the  population  of  the  free 
people  of  the  slave  States.  And  no  law  can  pass  the  Senate — and  no  law 
can  be  passed  by  this  Government — without  the  concurrence  of  slaveholders. 
They  have  a  veto  on  every  resolution,  and  every  measure,  and  if  "  every  man 
has  his  price,"  they  thus  possess  the  means  of  paying  it.  Appointments  are 
made  by  the  President,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate.  Of  course, 
slaveholders  have  a  veto  on  every  appointment,  and  no  man  can  be  appointed 
to  office  but  by  their  approval ;  and  it  has  always  been  so.  Slaveholders  rule 
the  nation,  and  have  always  ruled  it.  At  this  moment  they  have  the  Presi- 
dent, and  the  Cabinet,  and  the  Speaker,  and  the  important  committees  in 
both  Houses,  and  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  foreign  ministers,  and  the  offi- 
cers of  the  army  and  of  the  navy.  If  the  present  incumbent  serves  his  full 
term,  they  will  have  had  the  Presidents  fifty-two  years,  and  the  North  but 
twelve  years  and  one  month.  Slaveholders  have  held  the  post  of  Secretary 
of  State  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  time.  Of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  they  have  had  eighteen,  and  the  North  fourteen.  In  1842  we  were 
represented  at  foreign  courts  by  nineteen  ministers  and  charges  d'affaires — 
thirteen  of  whom  were  slaveholders  ;  and  this  has  been  about  the  usual  pro- 

P°rtion-  :*?fc 

Again  :  the  South  have  a  preponderating  influence,  arising  from  inequality 


10 

of  representation.  Each  of  the  members  of  this  House,  from  Massachusetts,, 
represents  (according  to  the  census  of  1840)  73,760  persons.  This  is  about 
the  average  representation  from  the  free  States  ;  whereas,  each  of  the  mem- 
bers from  Georgia  represents  less  than  50,000  free  persons,  and  each  member 
from  South  Carolina  less  than  40,000  free  persons ;  and  on  an  average,  each 
member  from  all  the  slave  States  represents  less  than  55,000  free  people. 
The  balance  of  their  constituency  is  their  slave  property.  This  property, 
amounting,  as  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Georgia,  [Mr.  TOOMBS,]  states, 
to  fifteen  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  is  represented  on  this  floor  by  about 
twenty  members.  We  may  very  properly  inquire  with  Mr.  Morris,  upon 
what  principle  it  is,  that  slaves  are  computed  in  the  representation  ?  If  they 
are  men,  then  let  them  be  treated  like  citizens,  and  vote  like  other  citizens ; 
if  they  are  property,  then  let  Northern  property  have  equal  privileges.  Nor 
is  this  all.  The  political  influence  exercised  in  the  election  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate,  shows  an  immense  disparity  in  favor  of  slaveholders.  The  ope- 
ration of  the  rule  of  Federal  numbers,  by  which  five  slaves  (claimed  by  slave- 
holders as  their  property)  are  counted  as  three  freemen,  produces  results 
worthy  of  special  notice.  Take  the  election  of  1848  as  an  example  of  other 
Presidential  elections.  Two  hundred  and  ninety  electors  were  chosen — 169 
from  the  free  States,  and  121  from  the  slave  States.  The  popular  vote  in  the 
free  States  was,  2,029,551,  giving  to  each  elector,  12,007  votes.  The  popu- 
lar vote  in  the  slave  States  was,  845,050,  giving  to  each  elector,  7,545  votes. 
South  Carolina  is  not  taken  into  this  account,  as  she  chooses  electors  by  the 
Legislature.  This  disparity  is  seen  more  clearly,  by  examining  the  returns 
of  several  of  the  States.  New  York  gave  455,761  votes,  and  chose  36  elec- 
tors. Virginia,  Maryland,  and  North  Carolina,  gave  242,547  votes,  and  chose 
36  electors.  Ohio  gave  328,489  votes,  and  chose  23  electors.  Delaware, 
Georgia,  Louisiana,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Florida,  and  Texas,  gave  237,811 
votes,  and  chose  38  electors.  This  shows  the  disproportionate  share  of 
influence  enjoyed  by  slaveholders  in  choosing  the  President;  and  yet,  in 
every  speech  they  make  upon  this  floor,  now-a-days,  the  cry  is  rung  and  reit- 
erated— Inequality,  injustice,  Northern  aggression !  and  now,  unless  they  can 
have  further  indulgences,  they  threaten  to  dissolve  the  Union.  Verily,  the 
plain  English  of  this  slaveholding  alternative  is  RULE  or  RUIN. 

Again  :  why,  say  Southern  gentlemen,  should  the  North  care  for  slavery  ? 
I   ask,  why  should  the  North  not  care  for  it  1     While  in  this  Republic — 
whose  boast  of  freedom  grows  louder  and  louder   constantly — I  say,   while 
here   the   dissolution    of   the   Union    is  stoutly  threatened,  unless    we  will 
extend  and  perpetuate  slavery,  its  condemnation  has  been  decreed  elsewhere 
by  the  voice  not  only  of  the  civilized,  but  of  the  semi-civilized,  world.     1^ 
Austria — yes,  royal  Austria,  despotic  Austria — it  wras  "  declared,  in  1826, 
by  an  ordinance  of  his  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Emperor,  that  any  slave,  from 
the  moment  he  treads  the  soil  of  the  imperial  and  royal  dominions  of  Aus- 
tria, or  even  merely  steps  on  board  an  Austrian  vessel,  shall  be  free." 

Several  of  the  Spanish  provinces  of  South  America,  extending  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  oceans,  having  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  the  mother  coun- 
try, in  1828,  "  proclaimed  freedom  to  all  the  slaves." 

The  British  Government,  in  1834,  by  a  single  act,  proclaimed  freedom  to 
her  eight  hundred  thousand  slaves  in  the  British  West  Indies. 

In  1846,  the  Bey  of  Tunis,  at  the  head  of  two  millions  of  people,  declared 
his  sovereign  pleasure  in  these  terms  : 

"  The  servitude  imposed  on  a  part  of  the  human  kind,  whom  God  has  created,  is  a  very 
cruel  thing,  and  our  heart  shrinks  from  it.  Now,  therefore,  we  have  thought  proper  to 


11 

publish,  that  we  have  abolished  man-slavery  throughout  cur  dominions,  inasmuch  as  we 
regard  all  slaves  who  are  on  our  territory  as  free,  and  do  not  recognise  the  legality  of  their 
being  kept  as  property." 

In  1848,  the  King  of  Denmark  proclaimed,  "  that  all  unfree  in  Danish 
West  India  Islands  are  from  to-day  (July  3d)  emancipated." 

In  France,  in  1848 — when  the  King  had  been  driven  from  his  throne,  and 
the  nation  was  emancipated — the  first  important  act  that  followed,  was  to 
strike  off  the  chains  from  the  limbs  of  the  slaves,  in  the  remotest  portions 
of  the  Republic. 

We  turn  to  Mexico.  A  decree  was  issued  in  September,  1829,  by  General 
Guerrero,  the  President,  for  the  entire  abolition  of  slavery.  That  decree 
contains  these  memorable  words  : 

"  Being  desirous  to  signalize  the  anniversary  of  Independence  by  an  act  of  national  jus- 
tice and  beneficence,  which  may  redound  to  the  advantage  and  support  of  so  inestimable  a 
good — which  may  tend  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  Republic,  and  which  may  reinstate 
an  unfortunate  portion  of  its  inhabitant^  in  the  sacred  rights  which  nature  gave  them,  and 
the  nation  should  protect  by  wise  and  wholesome  laws — I,  the  President,  have  resolved  to 
decree,  that  slavery  is,  and  shall  remain,  abolished  in  this  Republic." 

Noble  decree  !  set  forth  in  noble  terms.  In  1837,  April  5th,  the  General 
Congress  of  Mexico  passed  a  law  in  these  words  : 

"  Slavery  is  abolished,  without  any  exception,  in  the  whole  Republic." 

In  the  Constitution  of  Mexico,  adopted  and  promulgated  June  12th,  1843, 
the  subject  of  slavery  is  thus  disposed  of: 

"  No  one  is  a  slave  in  the  territory  of  the  nation,  and  ariy  introduced  shall  be  considered 
free." 

The  application  of  the  principles  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  to  all  her  territo- 
ries, was  made  by  Mexico  herself,  prior  to  the  cession  under  the  treaty  of 
Guadalupe  Hidalgo.  I  believe  we,  as  her  successor,  are  bound  by  interna- 
tional law — by  the  law  of  justice — by  the  law  "of  kindness — by  the  law  of 
prudence — by  the  law  of  expediency,  to  apply  this  principle  now,  seeing  the 
ceded  territories  are  part  of  the  free  territories  of  the  United  States.  The 
complaint,  that,  by  applying  it  to  New  Mexico,  we  taunt  the  South,  comes 
with  no  good  grace  from  the  counsellors  of  a  free  Republic. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  resolved  to  apply  the  Proviso  to  that  territory — not  to 
injure  any  one's  feelings,  nor  to  wound  any  one's  pride — but  because  it  is 
constitutional  and  right,  and,  as  I  judge,  eminently  a  prudent  and  practical 
measure.  The  application  of  this  principle  to  the  Northwest  Territory,  was 
a  prudent  and  practical  measure.  I  believe  its  application  to  California  and 
New  Mexico,  will  be  no  less  so.  Without  the  application,  Illinois — noble  Il- 
linois— would  have  been  a  slave  State.  She  did  but  just  escape  being  so, 
with  the  "Proviso  "upon  her.  If  it  be  not  applied  to  California  and  New  Mex- 
ico, in  my  opinion,  they,  in  no  long  time,  will  be  slave  States.  I  will,  there- 
fore, vote  to  apply  it  to  both  of  them,  and  to  all  other  free  territory,  wherever,, 
and  as  often,  as  the  occasion  occurs. 

The  syren  song  of  no  Wilmot  Proviso  for  New  Mexico,  is  calculated  to- 
bring  in  that  Territory  as  a  slave  State.  The  only  hope  of  freedom  there,  is 
in  the  application  of  the  Proviso  in  the  first  organic  law.  The  idea  that 
slavery  is  limited  by  mountains  or  plains,  by  soil  or  climate,  by  occupation  or 
latitude,  is  an  absurdity.  Were  slaves  allowed  in  California  or  New  Mexico, 
any  one  conversant  with  the  history  of  the  last  sixty  years,  will  see  that  those 
countries  would  be  overrun  with  slavery  in  a  twelvemonth.  The  honorable 
member  from  Virginia,  [Mr.  MEADE,]  frankly  declares,  in  his  speech : 

"  But  for  the  fear  of  robbery  under  the  forms  of  law,  there  would  be  at  least  fifty  thou- 


12 

•-sand  slaves  in  California  by  the  first  of  December.  It  is  the  best  field  for  such  labor  now 
in  America,  and  it  would  be  invaluable  to  us  as  a  means  of  thinning  the  black  population. 
When  people  say  that  the  climate  and  productions  are  unsuited  to  slave  labor,  they  are 
either  endeavoring  to  deceive,  or  are  deceived  themselves." 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  willing— yea  more,  I  am  resolved — to  use  the  first, 
the  second,  and  every  occasion,  to  apply  the  Proviso  of  '87  to  every  acre  of 
free  territory  we  now  possess,  or  may  possess.  I  would  apply  it  to  territory, 
lie  where  it  may — to  Greenland,  Nova  Zembla,  Cuba,  Yucatan,  the  Arctic  and 
Antarctic  regions,  and  to  the  Torrid  Zone — to  any  and  every  part  of  the 
earth's  surface,  if  it  belonged  -to  the  United  States.  If  a  bill  for  organizing 
any  territory  is  reported  to  this  House,  without  the  Proviso,  while  I  have  the 
honor  of  a  seat  in  it,  I  will  move  and  vote  for  its  insertion.  Every  member 
has  a  right  to  his  own  judgment.  This  right  belongs  to  others — it  belongs 
to  me.  I  have  formed  my  judgment  of  the  value,  and  necessity,  and  consti- 
tutionality of  the  Ordinance  of  '87,  deliberately — I  have  avowed  it  frankly. 
And  now,  alone,  or  not  alone — sink  or  swim — live  or  die — let  who  will  aban- 
don it,  I  will  adhere  to  it.  I  will  adhere  to  it  in  all  places — at  all  times — 
under  all  circumstances.  In  no  case  will  I  participate  in  extending  the  slave 
power  into  free  territory.  No,  never !  In  no  case  will  I  participate  in  with- 
holding the  Ordinance  of  '87  from  free  territory.  No,  never  ! 

Again  :  gentlemen  put  their  defence  of  slavery  upon  the  Bible — they  grasp 
the  horns  of  the  altar,  as  if  fleeing  from  the  terrors  of  the  avenger's  arm. 
The  honorable  gentleman  from  Florida  [Mr.  CABELL]  states,  that  the  angel 
directed  Hagar,  the  handmaid  of  Sarah,  to  return  and  submit  herself  to  her 
mistress,  which  he  seems  to  consider  conclusive.  Why  did  he  not  state  the 
fact,  that  soon  after  her  return,  Abraham,  by  command  of  God,  emancipated 
her  and  her  son  ? 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  Alabama,  [Mr.  INGE,]  speaking  of  slavery, 
says  : 

"  It  would  seem  to  be  profanation  to  call  an  institution  of  society  irreligious  or  immoral, 
which  is  expressly  and  repeatedly  sanctioned  by  the  word  of  God — which  existed  in  the 
tents  of  the  patriarchs,  and  in  the  households  of  his  chosen  people." 

An  honorable  Senator,  [Mr.  DAVIS,  of  Mississippi,]  in  a  speech  recently 
•delivered,  says : 

"  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  justice  or  injustice  of  slavery  as  an  abstract  proposition. 
*  *  *  *  It  is  enough  for  me  to  know  that  it  was  established  by  decree  of  Almighty 
•God — that  it  is  sanctioned  in  the  Bible — in  both  Testaments — from  Genesis  to  Revelation." 

The  meaning,  obviously,  of  the  gentlemen  who  thus  speak,  is,  that  slavery, 
;as  it  exists  in  some  of  these  States,  is  sanctioned  by  the  Bible,  and  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  all-wise  decree  of  the  Omnipotent  and  Holy  God.  Here 
I  take  issue  with  the  gentlemen ;  I  deny  most  unequivocally,  that  slavery,  as 
it  exists  in  these  States,  is  sanctioned  in  the  Scriptures,  or  supported  by  Di- 
vine authority.  And  I  shrink  not  from  the  opportunity  to  make  this  denial 
here  on  this  floor,  and  to  pledge  myself  to  make  it  good.  Slavery — I  mean 
American  slavery — is  condemned  by  the  doctrines,  commandments,  and  pre- 
cepts of  the  word  of  God ;  and  whenever  the  teachings  of  this  book  are  ob- 
served and  obeyed,  slavery,  in  its  American  form,  will  cease.  If  we  would 
know  whether  the  Bible  sanctions  American  slavery,  we  must  know  what  Amer- 
ican slavery  is.  A  constituent  element  is  one  thing,  a  relation  is  another 
thing,  an  appendage  is  another.  What  is  the  intrinsic,  the  unchanging,  the 
essential  element  of  American  slavery?  I  answer,  American  slavery  reduces 
man — a  man  created  free,  and  equal  to  all  other  men — it  reduces  him  to 
property.  It  makes  free,  moral  agents,  chattels.  It  converts  persons  into 


13 

things — it  sinks  a  rational  creature  into  merchandise.  An  American  slave- 
can  own  nothing — can  acquire  nothing.  Slavery  annuls  his  right  to  himself. 
If  he  uses  these  terms — my  hands,  my  eyes,  my  tongue,  my  body,  my  mind, 
myself— they  are  mere  figures  of  speech.  If  an  American  slave  uses  himself 
for  his  own  benefit,  he  commits  a  crime.  If  he  keeps  and  appropriates  what 
he  earns,  he  is  thereby  a  thief.  To  take  his  own  body  into  his  own  keeping, 
is  insurrection ;  and  death  must  be  his  doom  for  the  deed,  if  he  persevere. 
American  slavery  subjects  men  like  ourselves,  to  J>e  bartered,  mortgaged, 
bequeathed,  invoiced,  shipped  in  cargoes,  stored  as  other  goods,  taken  on  exe- 
cution, as  are  cattle,  and  knocked  off  at  public  auction.  It  makes  a  man's 
rights — a  man's  deathless  nature — a  man's  conscience,  affections,  sympathies,, 
hopes — a  marketable  commodity.  It  robs  him,  not  of  privileges,  but  of  him- 
self. It  loads  him,  not  with  burdens,  but  makes  him  a  beast  of  bur  den .  It 
restrains  not  liberty — it  subverts  it.  It  does  not  curtail  rights — it  abolishes 
them.  In  a  word,  American  slavery  sinks  man  into  a  machine — annihilates 
personality — despoils  a  human  being  of  rational  attributes — unmans  a  man. 
Such  is  American  slavery.  Lest  the  above  definition  of  American  slavery 
may  seem  overdrawn,  I  quote  from  the  statutes  of  two  of  the  slave  States. 
The  law  in  South  Carolina,  reads  thus : 

"  Slaves  shall  be  deemed,  held,  taken,  reputed,  and  adjudged,  in  law,  to  be  chattels  per- 
sonal, in  the  hands  of  their  owners  and  possessors,  and  their  executors,  administrators,  and 
assigns,  to  all  intents,  constructions,  and  purposes,  whatsoever." — Brenvard's  Digest,  229. 

"  A  slave  is  one  who  is  in  the  power  of  a  master,  to  whom  be  belongs  ;  the  master  may 
sell  him,  dispose  of  his  person,  his  industry,  and  his  labor ;  he  can  do  nothing,  possess 
nothing,  nor  acquire  anything,  but  what  must  belong  to  his  master." — Civil  Code  of  Lou- 
isiana, article  35. 

This  is  slavery,  as  it  now  exists,  in  some  of  these  States.  Does  the  Bible 
sanction  it  ?  I  answer,  nowhere,  in  no  manner.  The  Bible  condemns  it  to- 
tally, absolutely,  and  in  every  essential  feature  of  it.  The  Decalogue  deliv- 
ered on  Mount  Sinai,  by  the  infinite  God,  condemns  it ;  and  I  see  not  how 
any  person  can  keep  and  carry  out  these  ten  commandments,  and  support 
this  system  of  bondage.  A  species  of  servitude  did  prevail  among  the  Jews, 
in  the  days  of  the  patriarchs  ;  but  that  servitude  was  liberty  itself,  compar- 
ed with  American  slavery.  Those  who  were  held  to  service  then,  were  pro- 
tected in  their  persons — in  their  social  relations — in  their  religious  priv- 
ileges— in  all  their  essential  rights.  And  if  they  were  Jews,  the^ir  servitude 
terminated  at  the  end  of  six  years  ;  if  they  were  not  Jews,  it  terminated  in 
the  year  of  jubilee,  which  came  around  every  fiftieth  year.  For  a  Hebrew 
to  steal  one  of  his  brethren,  or  to  make  merchandise  of  him,  or  to  steal  any 
man,  and  sell  him,  or  hold  him  in  bonds,  was  a  crime  of  the  highest  enor- 
mity, and  punishable  with  death. 

"  Moreover,  God  said,  thou  shah  not  deliver  unto  his  master  the  servant  which  is  escaped 
from  his  master  unto  thee  ;  he  shall  dwell  with  thee,  even  among  you  in  that  place  whieh 
he  shall  choose,  in  one  of  thy  gates,  where  it  liketh  him  best." 

Slaver^  existed  in  Greece,  as  Homer  has  told  us  ;  but  highly-colored  as 
his  Asiatic  pictures  of  domestic  life  and  domestic  slavery  were,  he  shows  that 
it  was  only  captives  taken  in  war  that  were  slaves.  Moreover,  slaves  at 
Sparta,  and  Corinth,  and  Athens,  were  under  the  protection  of  law.  If  used 
severely,  an  Athenian  slave  could  take  refuge  from  the  cruelty  of  his  master 
in  the  Temple  of  Theseus. 

Slavery  existed  at  Rome,  too ;  but  Roman  slaves  could  acquire  property, 
and  enjoy  many  legal  rights.  If  sold,  husband  and  -wife,  parent  and  child, 
could  not  be  separated.  There  was  no  bar  to  emancipation;  and  the  slave, 


14 

when  emancipated,  became  at  once  a  citizen.  The  slavery  of  Greece  and 
Rome  was  freedom  itself,  compared  with  American  slavery.  Besides,  Grecian 
and  Roman  slavery  were  in  keeping  with  the  iron  heathenism  of  those  times. 
American  slavery  exists  in  the  nineteenth  century,  amid  all  the  light,  improve- 
ment, and  knowledge,  of  this  advanced  period  of  the  world ;  and  it  exists  in  a 
nation,  the  embodiment  of  whose  organic  law  is  equality  and  liberty  for  all 
men.  Slavery  exists  here,  while  it  has  ceased  to  exist  in  most  other  nations  ; 
and  it  exists  here  in  a  more  cruel  and  relentless  form,  than  it  ever  assumed 
elsewhere,  since  creation's  dawn.  The  apology  offered  for  its  existence  here, 
is,  that  the  cultivation  of  a  great  staple  requires  it.  I  do  not  see  the  force  of 
the  apology.  Cotton  can  be  cultivated  twenty-five  per  cent,  cheaper  with  free 
than  with  slave  labor.  If  it  were  not  so,  sooner  than  hold  in  bondage  a  fellow- 
man,  entitled,  equally  with  myself,  to  the  immunities  of  a  man,  I  would  readily 
fall  back  where  we  were  when  Jay's  treaty  with  England  was  made,  in  which 
the  cotton  trade  was  not  deemed  worthy  of  notice. 

Mr.  Chairman :  American  slavery  is  in  direct  antagonism,  not  only  to  the 
premises  on  which  rest  the  Declaration  and  the  Constitution,  but  to  all  the 
great  principles  of  the  ethics  of  the  Bible.  While  it  is  congenial  with 
nothing  in  our  political  principles,  it  is  a  perpetual  reproach  to  our  professions, 
both  of  freedom  and  of  Christianity.  As  gentlemen  have  appealed  to  the 
Word  of  God,  in  support  of  the  institution,  I  hesitate  not  to  face  them  on 
that  magna  et  maxima  charter  of  human  rights  and  privileges.  The  spirit  of 
the  Mosaic  code,  and  of  the  Christian  code — the  spirit  of  the  whole  book  is 
repugnant  to  slavery — is  destructive  of  slavery :  it  is  the  spirit  of  universal 
freedom,  and  therefore  the  genius  of  universal  emancipation.  The  great  law 
of  the  Saviour — requiring  every  man  to  love  his  neighbor  as  himself — and  that, 
also,  which  requires  us  "to  do  to  others  as  we  would  have  others  do  to  us," 
are  applicable  to  Africans,  as  well  as  to  Anglo-Saxons.  These  laws  of  the 
great  Founder  of  Christianity  are  yet  binding.  If  heeded  and  applied,  they 
will  cut  up  human  slavery — root  and  branch — here,  and  everywhere.  In  ac- 
complishing the  grand  design  of  his  earthly  mission,  Jesus  Christ  did  not  give 
his  instructions  the  aspect  of  a  treasonable  conspiracy  against  the  power  of 
Rome.  He  taught  a  system  of  truth,  involving  principles,  the  inevitable  result 
of  which,  so  far  as  they  are  applied,  will  subvert  every  custom,  and  every  do- 
mestic institution,  at  variance  with  the  purest  liberty  and  the  highest  glory  of 
man.  'f  hese  principles  are  in  direct  opposition  to  American  slavery,  and  will 
overthrow  it  wherever  they  are  adopted. 

Mr.  Chairman :  American  slavery  assumes,  that  the  relation  of  master  and 
slave  is  not  the  relation  that  exists  between  man  and  man,  but  that  it  is  the 
relation  that  exists  between  a  man  and  a  mule ;  that  the  master  has  rights  that 
the  slave  cannot  claim ;  and  that  a  slave  has  no  rights  at  all,  except  as  they 
are  merged  in  those  of  the  master.  Now,  these  assumptions  are  gratuitous 
and  monstrous.  They  are  entirely  annihilated  by  the  principles  taught  in 
both  Testaments — especially  the  New.  The  Son  of  God  teaches,  that  all  men 
have  a  common  origin — a  common  apostacy — common  rights — a  common  des- 
tiny— and  need  a  common  redemption.  Acting  under  his  instructions,  you  can 
never  make  a  slave,  nor  retain  a  slave.  Whenever  and  wherever  those  in- 
structions are  adopted,  American  slavery  will  cease. 

Who  can  estimate  the  importance  of  their  adoption  and  application,  at  the 
present  time — in  this,  our  republican  country — a  country,  in  size  equal  to  the 
whole  of  Europe — Russia  excepted ;  and  half  as  large  as  the  British  Empire, 
including  all  her  colonies  in  Europe,  Africa,  Asia,  and  America ;  a  country, 
extending  from  the  great  Gulf  on  the  south,  to  the  Lakes,  in  the  region  of  the 


15 

highest  habitable  latitude,  on  the  north,  and  stretching  across  the  entire 
continent,  from  ocean  to  ocean — including  the  greater  and  better  part  of  all 
the  habitable  lands  on  the  earth,  within  the  northern  temperate  zone — and 
furnishing,  as  De  Tocqueville  justly  said,  "  the  most  magnificent  dwelling- 
place  for  man,  to  be  found  on  the  globe." 

Our  Southern  friends  urge  us  to  go  home,  and  put  an  end  to  abolitionism, 
and  restore  harmony  to  the  country.  As  well  might  they  bid  us  stop  the 
waters  of  Niagara,  or  the  rolling  planets,  or  to  quench  the  light  of  the  sun. 
So  long  as  nature's  laws  operate,  and  the  God  of  nature  moves  forward  the 
solar  system,  those  waters  will  fall — those  planets  will  roll — that  sun  will 
shine ;  and  so  long  will  the  great  law  of  liberty  and  equality  be  in  force,  work- 
ing out  its  beneficent  results,  and  no  human  effort  can  avert  its  influence. 

Slavery  is  in  opposition  to  truth.  However  it  triumphs  for  a  season,  it  can- 
not long  predominate. 

"  Truth,  crushed  to  earth,  will  rise  again  ; 
The  immortal  years  of  God  are  hers." 

Mr.  Chairman :  The  present  is  a  crisis  for  constitutional  and  righteous 
action — for  a  calm,  firm,  and  comprehensive  avowal  of  the  great  principles 
of  freedom  and  justice  ;  principles  which  are  deeply  wrought  into  the  hearts 
of  the  people — the  great  heart  of  the  nation.  It  is  no  proper  time — no  fit 
occasion — for  compromises — for  compromises  of  liberty  with  slavery — of 
right  with  wrong.  As  an  honest  man,  and  the  humble  representative  of  a 
constituency,  in  the  midst  of  wrhom  are  the  Rock  of  Plymouth  and  the  graves 
of  such  pioneers  of  liberty  and  justice  as  Carver,  and  Bradford,  and  Brew- 
ster,  and  Winslow,  and  Standish — I  cannot  consent  to  peril  the  rights  of  my 
fellow  men,  nor  to  put  in  jeopardy  the  highest  and  dearest  interests  of  my  coun- 
try, by  a  league  with  American  slavery.  Were  I  to  consent,  I  should  do  vio- 
lence to  my  own  feelings,  and,  as  I  doubt  not,  to  the  feelings  of  those  by  whose 
favor  I  occupy  a  seat  on  this  floor.  Sooner  than  do  either,  "  let  my  right 
hand  forget  her  cunning,  and  let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth." 
Our  Constitution,  embodying,  confessedly,  the  best  form  of  civil  government 
ever  framed,  (a  Government  that  has  existed  a  twenty-seventh  part  of  the 
Christian  chronology,  and  an  eighty-fourth  part  of  the  period  of  man's  abode 
on  earth,)  seems  equally  fitted  for  thirteen  or  thirty,  or  thrice  thirty  States, 
provided  the  original  design  of-  it  be  adhered  to.  Let  that  design  never  be 
overlooked  by  any  act  of  legislation  in  this  hall — let  it  be  wrought  into  every 
measure — let  it  be  inscribed  on  every  law.  Then  shall  this  Government 
stand  while  these  marble  pillars  abide,  and  this  land  shall  be  the  glory  of  all 
lands,  and  a  light  for  all  nations. 


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